1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an engine control apparatus that performs the control of fuel injection amount and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In an engine that is mounted in a vehicle, the control of fuel injection amount is performed to adjust the output of an engine in accordance with a driver's requirement or the like. As a technology of monitoring an abnormality in fuel injection amount control of the engine, there is an art (a conventional art) in which an abnormality in a fuel injection valve is monitored based on a comparison between a command injection amount (a required injection amount) and an actual injection amount that is calculated from an energization time in opening the fuel injection valve, and a warning is issued or fuel injection is limited as a fail-safe process when there is an abnormality in the fuel injection valve (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-066156 (JP 2014-066156 A)).
By the way, in the aforementioned conventional art, since an abnormality is monitored based on a certain determination criterion, the following problem arises. That is, in the case where the vehicle speed is high and the inter-vehicular distance is longer than at low vehicle speed, even when the excess of the actual injection amount over the command injection amount is large, the driver is unlikely to develop a feeling of strangeness (excessive acceleration). If an abnormality is monitored based on a certain criterion regardless of the vehicle speed without taking this viewpoint into account, the fail-safe process such as the warning, the limitation of fuel injection or the like is executed at high vehicle speed although the driver does not feel the occurrence of excessive acceleration. As a result, the driver may develop a feeling of strangeness.